M drove a lorry used for carrying coal from the NCB quarries to power station. H was employed by the NCB to operate a weighbridge, providing tickets to drivers as to the weight on board, and aa a delivery note. On this occasion, the lorry was overloaded. H told M, but still ticketed the lorry and allowed him to drive away. NCB now appealed a conviction for aiding and abetting the offence by M.
Held: The appeal failed.
The court considered the necessary elements of an offence of aiding and abetting. Devlin J said: ‘If one man deliberately sells to another a gun to be used for murdering a third, he may be indifferent whether the third man lives or dies and interested only in the cash profit to be made out of the sale, but he can still be an aider and abetter.’ And ‘A person who supplies the instrument for a crime or anything essential to its commission aids in the commission of it; and if he does so knowingly and with intent to aid, he abets it as well and is therefore guilty of aiding and abetting.’
Aiding and abetting the commission of an offence could take place without the presence of the accused.
The intention required of an aider and abettor is an intention to assist or encourage the commission of a principal crime.
Devlin J pointed out that a consequence of rule that the law of tort does not recognise true accessory liability, only joint liability where the person who can be termed the actual perpetrator is the agent of another person, is that selling a person a gun knowing that person will use it to kill someone else will make the seller an accessory to the murder but will not in itself make him liable in tort.
Slade J said that mere passive acquiescence is sufficient only where the alleged aider and abettor has the power to control the offender and is actually present when the offence is committed, and continued: ‘Before a person can be convicted of aiding and abetting the commission of an offence the prosecution must prove: (a) that he knew the essential matters which constituted the offence . . and (b) that with such knowledge he assisted or at least encouraged the principal offender to commit the offence.’
Judges:
Slade, Devlin JJ
Citations:
[1958] 3 All ER 203, [1959] 42 CAR 240, [1959] 1 QB 11, (1958) 42 Cr App R 240, [1958] 3 WLR 434, (1958) 122 JP 453
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Bryce CACD 18-May-2004
The defendant said that his involvement in the murder of which he had been convicted had been secondary only. He was alleged to have transported the killer and the gun which he used to commit the murder to a caravan near the victim’s home so that . .
Cited – Jogee and Ruddock (Jamaica) v The Queen SC 18-Feb-2016
Joint Enterprise Murder
The two defendants appealed against their convictions (one in Jamaica) for murder, under the law of joint enterprise. Each had been an accessory when their accomplice killed a victim with a knife. The judge in Jogee had directed the jury that he . .
Cited – Fish and Fish Ltd v Sea Shepherd Uk and Others CA 16-May-2013
The claimant company sought damages after their transport of live tuna was attacked by a protest group. They now appealed against a decision that the company owning the attacking ship was not liable as a joint tortfeasor.
Held: The appeal was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime, Torts – Other
Updated: 29 March 2022; Ref: scu.190042